The Labours of Mrs Stella Ryman

<p><em>Replete with packet chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese Stella Ryman paused just outside Fairmount Manor’s dining room where she used the sleeve of her fleece warm-up suit to wipe the condensation from the streaked and fog-edged windows along the corridor.  There was so much springtime glory outside Fairmount — although she was not allowed out on her own to see it — and there was so much gloom inside that she didn’t want to add to it. But she couldn’t deny that trouble had resurfaced at Fairmount Manor.</em></p><p>When the machineries of institution fail to protect Fairmount Manor octogenarian amateur sleuth Mrs Stella Ryman rolls up her fleece jacket sleeves to protect Fairmount from a thief investigate a gun-toting resident set right a mishandled investigation of a man’s death pursue spectres and footpads walking at midnight and discover Thelma Hu’s long-lost fortune.  No good deed goes unpunished though and Stella will face struggles mysteries and sacrifices that hit her where she lives.</p><p>Mrs Stella Ryman is a fish out of water a stranger in a strange land<em> </em>— an amateur sleuth trapped in a down-at-heel care home.  You’d be cranky too.</p>